... whatever happens the process is built on an important new principle that will define the euro zone: each nation is indeed its brothers' fiscal keeper.

No matter that troubled Ireland, Portugal and Spain are expected to contribute to the bail out, or that Angela Merkel has yet to explain to her disapproving electorate why every German should cough up 100 each to enable Greeks to retire earlier than any German can hope to. A long step has been taken to move the integration project forward.

No taxation without representation is another American notion that will now come into play. European citizens will now be in effect taxed to support the Greek government, which they did not elect and in which they are not represented. <...>

Olli Rehn, EU commissioner for economic and monetary affairs will begin using his long-dormant monitoring powers, supplementing IMF oversight, and allowing Mr. Sarkozy to claim Europe is following Voltaire's advice and cultivating its own garden. We are about to learn just how much additional sovereignty each euro-zone nation is willing to surrender as Europe takes another step--a giant step--down the road to more complete economic integration.

Of course, what's really at stake is not so much the taxes but the fact that if all basic services were provided by the private sector, plenty would be excluded and the rich would feel even more exclusive and special...

Jerome a Paris: They'd rather "freely" pay larger amounts to lawyers, private insurance companies, oil companies or mercenaries than to the government.

No. In this specific case, they simply would rather not pay extra taxes in order to save another country from the incompetence and/or corruption of its own government. Has nothing to do with lawyers, private insurance companies, oil companies or mercenaries.

That's ridiculous. Germany could extract 4% in seigniorage out of Greece. If the German government is unable to fund that without raising taxes...

Not to speak of the fact that they probably think they cannot do it without raising taxes partly because they wrote into the ECB regulations that the German government cannot borrow from the ECB. But of course, if Greece could borrow from the ECB we wouldn't be having this conversation.

The Bundesbank, headed by ultra-hawk Axel Weber, said the decision to bring in the IMF makes matters worse, arguing that the EU would impose tougher budgetary discipline.

The report mocked the IMF as the "Inflation Maximising Fund", saying the body had gone soft under Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a French socialist and Keynesian. It has shifted focus from fiscal cleansing to "growth-oriented" financial policies. "Currency reserves from the Bundesbank cannot plausibly be made available for such purposes," it said.

...Germany's 67 retirement age is unmatched in any other country. Germany is also the biggest net contributor to EU funds. In other words, Germans already work longer than other Europeans AND they contribute more to EU funds.

Greece raised its retirement age to 65 (although women, for some reason,--bizarrely--can retire earlier--don't ask me), and that number seems largely in keeping with other European countries, no?